After years of creeping/reading/ looking at every photo and video I can find I will be lucky enough to make the journey as a birgin in 2013(probably solo) assuming I get a ticket and nothing major happens in the next few months.

Little about me..Early 30's, married - w/ 2 year old son.. Engineer/designer by trade... I love to camp, photography, travel, drink, and meet new people..

Looking forward to finding a home on the playa- possibly a theme camp, new friends etc...Building a small hexayurt and using the thermal mass of the water for they week to help keep it cool...may do an a/c or swamp cooler also.. Would love to try my hand at body painting and will probably bring supplies / volunteering to bartender for awhile or finding other ways to help the community..

Nikon - D7000 currently - looking to pick up D40 or other cheap used Nikon with my 50mm and lensbaby to thrash on the playa Or another "tough" camera since ours broke this summer.. Not sure how much photography I will do as I want to savor the experience not save it. Will do some artistic shots I am sure !!! Maybe find some sparkle ponies to pose for cliche photos

I try talking some of my friends into going and they don't even know what burningman is lol some burners exist up here but few and far between atleast not in my circle of friends... Should be an amazing experience!!

Need to research some camps or villages that welcome single campers... Will be self sufficient but having a communal evap pond, etc might be nice.. Also helping create art with others on a project etc...

I brought my DSLR without much protection. A little painters tape and that's it. I've changed lenses inside and outside. I'm due for a cleaning, but ther than that everything is still in working order. I shoot with Canon. 2011 I kept a 50mm lens on it for 90 of the time, but there are so many times when you want to zoom or shoot wide and can't... I'll likely pack my 28-105mm and 50mm... Maybe my 55-300mm if I honestly think I need the zoom, but you can always shoot Raw and crop from 105mm...IMHO. I do use filters on my lenses and was 'thinking' about doing the ziplock trick on my 28-105, but we will see. Most people I know have no real protection on their gear and this includes Mark 5D's. A good post cleaning will do your gear a world of good.

Take pics, even if they are only in auto... You don't need to put much thought into them, those are the one's you look back and laugh at later. Avoid taking photos of the sparkle ponies, I hear they bite.

There are a bagillion camps... Maybe not that many, but lots. Most accept virgins and solo campers... It all depends on what you are looking for. You can look at the list of 2012 theme camps online, as you know(right?), to get a taste for what was on the playa in 2012. There is something for everyone on the playa.. Hushville, Kidsville(but you aren't bringing the tyke), French Quarter, Necatar Village, Death Guild, Distrikt, DeMentha, BDC, Spanky's and the list goes on!!!! I'm not sure which camps have evap ponds though... Nectar Village has an awesome steam bath... I'm packing my shower cap this year.

Illuminate. Navigate. Celebrate.What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?

Not worried about photo equipment.. I have read tons of threads on here about it and well what happeneds happens..

Thanks or the listing of the camps.. The 2012 and previous camp listings are over whelming to look through.. I don't wanna major sound camp that I do know... I live in rural SD for a reason - like my space and quietness.. But this trip is for me to step outside what I know and am comfortable with..

Nectar Village - looks good (solar camp too much a plug and play- maybe the steam shower group is more individual). Spanky's looks to be a good time!

Thanks for the welcoming advice.. Lots of info on this site and others, found a lot of 1/2 done sites and forgot pages but capture a little info here and there..

When I figure out more what I want and looking for might have to make a post in theme camps thread..

9ah wrote:Take pics, even if they are only in auto... You don't need to put much thought into them, those are the one's you look back and laugh at later. Avoid taking photos of the sparkle ponies, I hear they bite.

Bite, schmite. Everybody takes photos of the sparkleponies. Which means that you'll find far better pictures of them on line than you take. And (this is the important part) your pictures will look derivative.

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri